also, really really fucking good movie. about a third of the way through, i was like "this is dumb" and then afterwards it sort of "grew on me" to the point where i couldn't think about anything except watching it again. the main romance in the first half of the movie, no matter how bizarre or short-lived, is absolutely beautiful.

big emphasis, i think, on the senses and how we rely on them (this could be expanded to the lynchian "dream sequence"/vignette structure of the film but you guys can ponder that one on your own)...the "no hay banda" scene, especially, lynch is playing with us. the "bandleader" repeats to the on-screen audience (i.e. the two women) and the film's audience (us) that it's "all recorded", over and over again. no hay banda, no hay banda, etc.

and then the women starts singing, and it's gorgeous and heartstopping and all of that. incredibly gripping scene. and then when she falls, we're all surprised, even though that conclusion has already been predicted on-screen a million times. we've already been told the ending, and we're surprised when it comes. brilliance

no like, not the scene, but the development. if i wanted lesbian sex, i'd fucking google it, but just the way it develops as a total and genuine friendship and then turns into something that is so complete and gorgeous virtually out of nowhere. and from then on the whole dynamics of their relationship changes, the whole course of the movie is thrown into a twist and i am completely and utterly transfixed by this unexpected transformation

I always thought of the first part as Diane's dream, because in the last 1/3 of the movie she's in her house the entire time just flashing back to different points in time. In her dream she has power over Rita whether it be intellectual, sexual, whatever and that's a really big point to pick up on. But then the creepy looking dude behind the restaurant is supposed to be a metaphor for Hollywood... On the front it is clean, shiny, perfect plastic while behind the front there is this evil, seedy portion compromised of the people that don't make it there. Just like the seedy underworld portion of the small town in Blue Velvet.

that said i feel like there is definitely a plot, it's just told in a different order and basically
half of it is a dream...(check wiki link)...this may be a "theory" but it makes too much sense for me
not to believe that it wasnt lynch's intention

@diceman, bingo, never really thought about the restaurant scene though. it may also be a meditation
on dreams/us being "haunted" by them or whatever. "accept the mystery?" (via a serious man. also,
everyone watch a serious man)

^yeah robertsona has got it right... It all gives it away in the first 3 minutes with the face going
onto the pillow then the cowboy wakes her up after the box is opened.

Also, I understand that the acting is supposed to be intentionally poor at some points... It's
supposed to feel cheesy sometimes cause it isn't real. It's a dream. Note that the acting in the last
1/3 is actually a hell of a lot better than the first 2/3ds.